sport<\/g> you get what you deserve. The truth is Barcelona\u2019s inimitable genius deserves far more than the four Champions Leagues he has to his name.<\/p>\nThe best player in the world, in the history of football, produced another decisive, debilitating display, ripping Manchester United\u2019s defence apart to score twice in Barcelona\u2019s 3-0 win, 4-0 on aggregate.<\/p>\n
Messi ended a freak 12-match run of Champions League quarter-final games, dating back to 2013, without a goal, driving Barcelona into the semi-finals for the first time since they won the tournament in 2015.<\/p>\n
Despite that curious drought, throughout that time he has shone while others around him, from the coach to his team-mates, have not delivered, even if he is willing to shoulder his share of the responsibility.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Last season’s quarter-final capitulation at AS Roma – a 3-0 defeat in the Italian capital – which saw Barca spew away their 4-1 first leg victory, plunged the club into a deep depression.<\/p>\n
That unmoving gloom weighed heavily on Barcelona, so much so that celebrations of their league and Copa del Rey double felt trite, while mortal enemies Real Madrid swept to a third consecutive Champions League win.<\/p>\n
Time heals most wounds and Marc-Andre ter<\/g> Stegen explained that Barcelona are<\/g> only thinking about progressing, with Rome standing as a moment in history they can learn from but not ruminate on.<\/p>\n“<\/g>We don\u2019t want it to happen again and for that<\/g> we have to take it into account, but we have to look forward,” said the German goalkeeper.<\/p>\nThe double was a hugely impressive achievement, but Barcelona are<\/g> the only European side to win three major competitions in a season twice. Treble-treble winners has<\/g> a nice ring to it.<\/p>\nNine points clear in La Liga and with the Copa del Rey final booked against Valencia, Barcelona hearts and minds are preoccupied by<\/g> one thing only – conquering Europe.<\/p>\nCaptain Messi laid the ground work<\/g> with a rare speech to fans at the start of the season, demanding his team pull the thorn of the past three years out of their side.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nThe Argentine star was not at his best in the first leg, struggling after a smash in the face from Chris Smalling which left him bloodied and dazed, but his fingerprints were all over Barcelona’s crucial away goal.<\/p>\n
Back on home soil<\/g> the Argentine magician was far more comfortable. Barcelona weren\u2019t<\/g>, though, at the start.<\/p>\n\u201cWalking to glory,\u201d read a banner hoisted by home fans moments before kick-off.<\/p>\n
The team appeared to take it to heart and were shell-shocked in the opening period by a Manchester United side that flew out of the blocks, hitting the crossbar through Marcus Rashford.<\/p>\n
Messi\u2019s magical opener out of nothing eased the pressure, with the No 10 capitalising on Ashley Young\u2019s giveaway, nutmegging Fred and then fizzing a perfectly placed effort past David de Gea from the edge of the box.<\/p>\n
Messi\u2019s second, under five minutes later, was less stylish, aided by a howler from the Spanish goalkeeper, but he still ripped away into open green space to find room for his low shot.<\/p>\n
Barca\u2019s third should have come just before half-time after another heart-stopping Messi run<\/g> sliced the Premier League side open, but Sergi Roberto\u2019s shot was somehow kept out by De Gea, who knew little about it.<\/p>\nAt times it seemed like Messi was deliberately toying with Manchester United. That\u2019s not often how he plays, but after his roughing up at Old Trafford, he wanted to prove a point – and did.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It was another of Messi\u2019s raking balls out to the left that helped create the third for Philippe Coutinho, with Jordi Alba teeing up the Brazilian.<\/p>\n
Now that would really be a miracle,<\/g> if Messi can help bring Coutinho back to life!<\/p>\nYou can\u2019t put it past him – and with the Argentine in this untouchable form, Barcelona’s eyes are firmly on the prize which really matters to them this season.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcelona’s legendary No.10 produced another incredible performance as the Blaugrana comfortably put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side to the sword Manchester United came to Camp Nou hoping for a miracle to rival their 1999 Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich. Then super-sub and now coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the second of two stoppage time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}